Gabriel García Márquez : Eyes of Those Who Knew Him

March 5, 2019

This passage from the interview with Silvana Paternostro – the author of Solitude and Company was the first reason I wanted to read this book, when travelling I love to be reading a book that is of the place and gives more context than a travel guide.

she says…

“Especially in this English version, I did something I didn’t do in the Spanish: I included things that would make readers understand Colombia. It turned into a book that explains our music, the violence, the idiosyncrasies of the region. When I was growing up, it was red alert: Don’t go. Now that Colombia has become a travel destination, the book, while it’s not a travel guide, is a companion to travel to Colombia with.”

When did you first get the idea to write this book?

I got the idea to do the book in 2010, and it came out in Spanish in 2014. But it had been gestating without me being aware of it in many ways. I was born and grew up in the exact geographical area where “One Hundred Years of Solitude” takes place. I would hear stories about him and his friends; they were a crazy bunch, like our own Beat poets. My uncle knew them. I went to school with some of their children.